'Get well soon, Mr engineer'

07 June,2010 08:26 AM IST |   |  Surender Sharma

Residents of Lajpat Nagar turn to Gandhigiri for maintenance of local parks


Residents of Lajpat Nagar turn to Gandhigiri for maintenance of local parks

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials posted in the Lajpat Nagar area in south Delhi can empathise with Happy Singh of Lage Raho Munnabhai. Though they aren't getting flowers delivered at their doorsteps, they have been getting "Get Well Soon" SMSes from residents in the area.


Representative photo


There are 11 parks in the locality and the Resident's Welfare Association (RWA) maintains all of them. The horticulture department of MCD had installed water pumps in these parks but they have been out of order for the last two months.

"The horticulture department was responsible only for the maintenance of these water pumps. Since they haven't been working for the last two months we have not been able to irrigate the plants properly and the parks are going barren," said Harvinder Singh, general secretary, Lajpat Nagar III resident's welfare association.
He said when repeated efforts to get their grievance heard failed, they thought of resorting to Gandhigiri.
"We met senior horticulture department officials but the problem persisted," he said.

"We have a local SMS service to send updates about water and electricity disruptions in the area. We are now using the service to send 'Get Well Soon' messages to the officials concerned of MCD and the residents," Singh said.

Among those who are getting these messages are deputy director (central zone), executive engineers of the area and director (horticulture zone).u00a0

The Other Side

I do not know about the case. I will seek explanation from the department and take strict action against the guiltyu00a0
- Dharamvir Singh, Chairman, Horticulture Committee, MCD


"We did not have numbers of Mayor PR Sawhaney and standing committee chairman Yogendra Chandolia otherwise we would have sent messages to them also. We are also planning to meet the Mayor in this regard," Singh added.

Lajpat Nagar 3 Resident's Welfare Association, comprising 2000 families, is one of the oldest RWAs in Delhi. Last year it celebrated its Silver Jubilee, which was attended by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
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